Gaining My Respect: David Tennant

About a month ago, I started watching a show called Doctor Who. It was quite a move, because I had never once been four whole seasons behind on something, and actually wanted to catch up. But I decided I wanted to try. I remembered I really liked the show a while back, when I first started to watch it, so I started from the beginning* and worked my way up... fairly quickly. Now, 4 seasons and 5 epic specials later, I am awaiting new episodes and trying to keep from appearing rabid.

In my previous viewing, I had seen all of the first season, with Christopher Eccleston as the Doctor, and a bit of the second, when David Tennant took over. It had been a few years since then, but what I remembered most was not the Doctor I took an entire season getting to know, but the one that followed him, the one I only knew for a few episodes... and he was the reason I started watching again. I remembered him... after only a few episodes, I remembered this actor's face for literally years. I didn't know his name, didn't know of anything else he was in, but I knew that face, and would randomly see it online.

There was just something about him. It wasn't like I was actively trying to find out who he was, I just couldn't forget him. Whatever he had done in those few episodes that I had seen had definitely been memorable. As I worked my way through the series, I began to find out exactly what it was about him that I loved.

David Tennant is a phenomenal actor. He can say more with his eyes than most people can with the most fanciful and colorful words imaginable. And his has this way of completely and utterly drawing you in, making you believe what he's feeling, what he's saying... you really do simply believe him. The Doctor is an incredibly difficult role to play - you have to as an actor create this person that is brilliant, snarky, a little rude, slightly mad, and insanely tragic and lonely - and Tennant does it beautifully.

He has his face to help him with that. Where most actors have expressive eyebrows, or an expressive smile, or very talkative eyes, Tennant has everything. His face tells stories. He has the most infectious glee face I've ever seen, and when he's angry you definitely know... but there are so many different looks in between. If he's confused, mischievous, scared, aggravated, angry, sad, lonely, hurt, etc. etc., you know. And it's so clear that you're frustrated for him, you laugh with him, and - at least in my case - sometimes you cry. But he doesn't rely on that... there are times when his face is a blank slate and it still speaks volumes.

He's Scottish, and normally speaks with a Scottish accent, unless he's the Doctor, in which case he's British. But both accents are absolutely flawless. He's a physical actor, always moving about, and boy howdy, he has some great hair. It was really difficult not to fall in love with him, and even more difficult - after 3 whole seasons - to let him go. He gave himself so completely to the role of the Doctor that it's incredibly hard to imagine anyone else trying to fill his shoes, and it's even harder to imagine the show without him.

But he has a few movies lined up and, even if he doesn't get work for a few more years, I think it's obvious I won't forget him... because he's absolutely gained my respect, and I'm not in a hurry to revoke that privilege.


*the beginning of the 2005 continuation, not the beginning of Doctor Who all together... that's a LOT of episodes XD